You Can Only Take The Steps Available to You Now | Cc Madhya 16.220-237 | UK | 29 Mar 2026

I wrote Our Family Business, and it took me a long time to get started because I had already written the book in my mind. My editor was Kaishori Devi, and every time she’d contact me and say, 'How’s it going?' I’d say, 'Great.' She’d say, 'Can you send me something?' I’d say, 'Not really.' Then I realized I actually have to write the book; it can’t just be in my mind. But then when I started, I felt as if I was going on a sea journey. Sea journeys—especially if you don’t have a compass or you don’t have any way to measure how far along you are—are very difficult. I felt during the writing of that book that I was in the middle of an ocean and that I had no idea when the shore was going to show itself. And then I thought: all I can do is keep swimming. I just have to take one sentence at a time, one word at a time, and keep writing. I can’t write the whole book; I already tried it—I wrote it in my mind, and my editor didn’t accept it! So, we also have to do that work, but we will come to the shore. It’s a revelation that Akrūra had. Remember Akrūra going into Vṛndāvana? He talks about how logs float on the water, and then eventually they’ll come to rest on the shore. Or the same on the ocean: it comes to the shore of the ocean; eventually, we will come to that point. More than that, however, is Kṛṣṇa’s reassurances that if you’re engaged in the process of devotional service, you will certainly come to the shore. Regardless of what you think your disqualifications are right now, Kṛṣṇa assures us that if we’re sincere and we practice devotional service steadily—not considering any defeat. I’ll read you something. One of my favorite purports Prabhupāda wrote is in the Light of the Bhāgavata. I was staying at Govardhana Hill, and there were some devotees that had come along. It was about twenty years ago, and I had come back from Govardhana-parikrama. They were up on the roof. They were like scientists. You know In the Ādi-līlā of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, when Kavirāja Gosvāmī quotes the verse teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ—you know that quotation in the Ādi-līlā—and then in this purport, Prabhupāda says the devotees are like scientists. They study the śāstra, and then they sit together and they discuss, as Prabhupāda said thoroughly, threadbare. You can imagine, you know, two overstuffed chairs with two scientists facing each other—a tweed jacket, maybe a little patch on the arm, you know, professor-like thing, professorial attire—and they’re discussing scientific theories. So, Prabhupāda said devotees are like that. So these two devotees were on the roof, and when they saw me come up, they went, 'Come up! Quick, quick, quick!' I came up the stairs. They said, 'I think we found something.' And they read me this...(0:34:36) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://vaisesikadasayatra.blogspot.com/